6.30.2010

Saturday night Michael and I celebrated our birthdays at a bar here called The Whistler. It's one of my favourites. It's lounge-y and low-key that's also standing-room, and they keep it at low capacity so it doesn't get overcrowded. They make special seasonal cocktails, classic cocktails, stand-bys, and have a great beer selection. Be sure to stop by if you are in Chicago.

Anyway, I only took snaps of Michael and I before we left, but I wanted to show off my outfit. And Michael looks great as always-perfectly matching the duck tie I gave him as part of his present!

6.24.2010

I've been stock-piling these gems and making more faster than I could update, so now you are getting flooded! That's okay, my poor little vintage shop is being abandoned until I do Vintage Heaven and see what's left. On that note, if you are eying something you should snatch it up now! It might be gone after the sale.

Anyway back to the jewelry! All lovely earrings (I had a comb listed but it sold already!):

6.23.2010

I still feel like a kid when I start counting down the days until my birthday (four!), not to mention when I compile lists of "Ohhh I want that...for my biiiirthday!" That being said, it's not too late to get me a gift (or two...):

6.22.2010

How long has it been since my last outfit post? A month? Wow! Here's my new photo wall. The paint colour is "fashion grey" and I love it! And the light in this apartment is insane since we are on the third floor. I didn't have to edit these photos at all! No more using bad light as an excuse for no photos hopefully. My apartment is still a mess so I had to shift some boxes and crap out of the way to take these, but soon enough it will be alright. This will also be the wall I'm gonna shoot my Etsy photos against.

I know my hair is totally 80s stockbroker with a touch of duck tail, but it's hot and I'm getting a haircut later so I just swept it all back. I felt really glamourous earlier but now I'm not sure if I can rock the no-fringe look. Thoughts?

Madelief was sold to no other than Karen of Small Earth Vintage! I'm so excited to see pictures of her in it! Not to worry, though, I plan to make some similar styles of headbands with those circles. Any colours you'd like to see? Also, the Adeil headband is made of white lace I have a lot of so I can dye it almost any colour. It's perfectly customizable!

I have also reached 100 sales in my vintage shop! This calls for a celebration...stay tuned! ;)

And, last but certainly not least, I have some great news...

Slubird Vintage will be selling at Vintage Heaven in Chicago on July 3rd!

Vintage Heaven is an event where different vintage vendors set up shop in a gallery space in Wicker Park. I know a few people who have done it and loved it, and the people who run it are super nice. It's Saturday, July 3rd from 12-6. If you are around I would love it if you stopped by and said hello!

6.20.2010

Happy Father's Day, daddy! I love you so much, and you are more than just the best dad I could ask for. You're also one of my closest friends. Thanks for always being there not just for me but also for others who are close to me and Ben. Your warmth and compassion has spread beyond your children, which is admirable and amazing. Thanks for all the little things you do that mean the world to me, like letting me tag along to shows, driving me up to Chicago when I was an angsty suburban kid, making me dinner and letting me take the leftovers when I go home, burning me music, dancing with me at weddings...the list goes on and on because you are that awesome.

6.19.2010

I got a million photos so I will keep the text short and sweet so I can have a big ole lovely photo dump over here! Hooray.

Firstly, these pictures are all from the Monday of trip except for these:

Some weird little architecutre plates! I loved these. I discovered them while I was wandering around near Union Station while talking to Michael on the phone. I love little stuff like this that probably goes unnoticed by many.

Anyway the next day we did touristy stuff. Like go to Time Square:

Obligatory Radio City Music Hall photo:

NBC! Oh yes. And I was a huge nerd in the gift shop, too:

Who would actually buy this...?

Rockefeller Center is a big-ass building so I just got a snap of the diving dude in the front:

Capped off the sauntering my strolling down 5th ave and taking a peek at Bryant Park. Classiest bathroom ever, btw, there were flowers and classical music playing in there!

Then we got pizza and bagels and flew home. Then I moved! I finally just got internet at my place too so I can finally start updating on a regular basis again. I have a lot of exciting things to share with you, too! Stay tuned...

6.14.2010

Somehow this is the only photo from May 22, the second day of my trip. I guess we were just so busy I never thought to take some snaps! This was taken of my outfit at the Brooklyn flea on a beautiful day. Before this me and a big group of us girls went to General Greene for brunch. The flea wasn't as impressive as I had hoped; almost all of the vintage I saw in New York was tremendously disappointing. Very expensive for how poor of quality the garments were! I did see some great vintage jewelry at the flea, however, and some of my friends found things. Outside of the fleagrounds there were a lot of people having stoop sales, and I found this awesome 60s metal belt! Everyone convinced me to get it, so I did, but since I have no pictures you will have to wait until I incorporate it into an outfit photo! We also went to Artists & Fleas...same thing. Crummy vintage clothing but some AWESOME handmade goodies. I didn't buy anything but I loved to look.

That night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant on the Lower East Side called Max. The food was fine but that was the worst service I have ever had. We didn't leave a tip it was so bad! I wouldn't recommend it. We finished the night with dancing at Lit (there was one really, really awesome dj and one bad one, and they kept switching off, but at least there was one good dj). Afterwards we wandered around for a while, at this point just me, Kara, Erin and Erika, had a snack at Dunkin Donuts while we talked about the various animal encounters Erika might be having in Mongolia. We got home as the sun was coming up.

The next day I met up with my friend Jordan for brunch and then off to the Brooklyn botanical gardens we went!

I love how people humour me enough to snap outfit pictures for me/you guys. ;)

It was a nice overcast, warm day and we just wandered through all the different gardens. There were a lot of new breeds of flowers and some had some totally redic names (and there were multiple ones named Betty White and other cliche names like Prom Date).

I really enjoyed the hot houses (though of course my hair poofed up likea scared cat's tail) and the ponds with the lily pads and sleepy koi fish.

It was good to spend a little time with Jordan since I hadn't seen him since I visited Savannah two years ago. And I think you all know how much I enjoy plants!

6.08.2010

Alright, I'm finally starting my NYC weekend recap! Now I just have to remember what I did. I gotta warn, y'all, this is pretty picture-heavy.

My friends Erin, Kara and I came in at 9a, so tired, so we went our separate ways and Kara and I went to our friend Dani's place (who we were staying with) and hella napped.

Then we met Erin and her sister Shannon at a little French bakery near the met. Kind of expensive for the tiny portions, but it was good. And of course we got goodies from the sweets case on our way out...

We get to the Met, and the first thing I want to do is check out the Costume wing. But it's closed! BUT it's closed because they had an amazing special exhibit; "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity." You can see the details on the website here. It was one of the best exhibits I've ever seen. Perfectly preserved clothing from the 1880s to the 1930s. I was in heaven! I could look at the gorgeous detailed beading on Victorian party gowns and flapper dresses, dreamily covet all the sailor suits and cotton blouses of the '10s, and stare at a case of Bohemian silk shoes! Even just being around everything made of natural fibers...it was so great, I'm becoming a big fabric snob. Here's a couple of images from the Met's Flickr stream since I was not able to photograph in there (probably a good thing):

It's running until August 15, so if you find yourself in New York at all between now and then you HAVE TO SEE THIS. One of the most interesting parts, for me, was learning about Suffragette fashion. It's usually passed over in the history of fashion, so it was the subject I learned the most about at this exhibit. There was a quote I'll add as soon as I find it (scribbled it down, it's in the bowels of my apartment somewhere right now) about how they wore the current fashions and how it helped with their stand because they were showing women deserved the right to vote because of, not in spite of, their status as a object of desire. I found that profoundly interesting, it was validation for the debate I often hear of women who wear vintage fashions today not being feminists because they are idealizing a time where feminism was rampant, when in fact we are just as feminist as any other. I, and many women I know, dress in feminine attire FOR OURSELVES. We like the way we look in these clothes, we respect our bodies enough to wear flattering clothing. It's great my boyfriend likes when I don a vintage hat and dress, but I do it for me. That's as feminist as it gets!

Anyway, sorry for the tangent/rant. Rantgent. Before we left the Met we also checked out the Art of Illumination exhibit, where they completely dismantled an amazingly illustrated book of hours made in the early 1400s. I loved the saints stories especially. Something you might not know about me is that I love patron saints and their stories. My favourite is St Lucia. I did write a little thing on this blog for her feast day back in December but many of you might not have been reading this blog then! They also included zodiac symbols on the calendar pages, which I also found neat since it's a Catholic book. I'm also a huge astrology nerd!

We checked out the armor and the instruments, too, and then headed to the rooftop garden! It was about 7 pm, still lots of light but it was starting to set. We took a lot of pictures, of course:

yours truly, Erin, Kara

Erin and Shannon

And Erin took this super cheesy one of me and Kara. It looks like a Suede single.

Later we went for dinner at Zarela, an excellent Mexican restaurant. They had really strong yet tasty margaritas (I got pomegranate!), the best fresh salsa I've ever had tableside, and the 5 of us split 6 entrees and sides. Highly recommended! We then headed over to Flatiron Lounge, which I also highly recommend. I think my drink was called Maxwell's Return, I can't remember what was in it but it was amazing. If I go back some time I'm gonna get what Kara had; it had peach and jasmine in it! I also finally met long-time internet friend (from Livejournal days, if you can imagine!) Stephanie, of the Girl Friday blog. We had a long, awesome conversation about travel and men and life. Unfortunately we were gabbing so much I didn't get a picture of us together. In fact, I only have one picture of the night (of me, Erin, Kara and Dani):